Football is the real winner of 2012 gold

The Beautiful Game dominates our list, with Premier League players reaping rich rewards

Sports stars across Britain and Ireland have never had it so good. Our fourth
Sunday Times Sport Rich List shows that the top 100 present and former
sportsmen — and it is all men — have wealth totalling £3.225bn, up 6.7% on
last year and 31% higher than in our first list in 2010.

It has been a vintage year for British sport with the hugely successful London
Olympics, a British triumph at a Grand Slam tennis event and a wonderhorse
enthralling the world of racing. But our list is headed by someone who is
now fast becoming a vintage player himself in the shape of David Beckham,
who turns 38 on Thursday. The midfielder is worth £165m, and that doesn’t
include his wife Victoria’s £35m fortune.

Now plying his trade at Paris Saint-Germain, Beckham wanted to represent Great
Britain at the Olympics but had to be content with delivering the torch